Brian (Blackie) Mayo Reserve

The new subdivisions in Cambridge that are on flat land have drainage problems, and a swale is a means of dealing with stormwater. Being an open drain, it lends itself to planting along its edges, and this is what has happened here. For a long time, we referred to it simply as "The Swale."

Brian Mayo did a huge amount of work on this reserve, and for the Tree Trust in general. He was a founding member, and was Chairman for about 18 years. After his death in 2013 we decided to name the reserve in his honour, and the Waipa District Council agreed.

Since the swale was planted, there have been two droughts, and the plants suffered. Replanting is now essential, as at August 2014, and these students from St. Peters School are helping us do that. This little video shows them planting about 150 plants in under 2 hours. They were late starting because the Tree Trust's truck got bogged in unexpectedly wet ground on the way in, and they had to do what they could with plants barrowed in for about a kilometre until the truck was freed.

Survival is always a problem in an area like this, where the ground has been prepared for house building rather than planting. Here are some of the plants that have survived the summer of 2014/15. Click on a picture to enlarge it, and use the arrows at the side to move through the slide show.